Out of Darkness by Ruth Price Page B

others were gathered. By giving the police officer a guided tour, that would hopefully allow Samuel enough time to not only get Sofia out of the house, but also safely hidden.
    "Abram!" There was a swish of skirts as Annie came running in from the kitchen. A white splotch of flour clung to her forehead just below her kapp. "Why didn't you tell me Officer Maglione was here? Hello officer, may I offer you something to eat or drink? The Englischer girl is in the main room."
    "Your husband said she'd left."
    Annie burst out laughing. "Abram! He's the same age as my youngest brother. My husband is at the Deacon's meeting." Her attention turned back to Abram. "What do you mean, left? Where'd she go?"
    "She said she remembered something and left with Samuel."
    "And you just let her run off into the dark? With Samuel! He's not yet an adult." Annie's expression glowered with disapproval. "Abram Yoder, this is disgraceful.
    "I couldn't force her to stay, Annie. It's not our way."
    "You're even more rigid than Rebekah! I swear, if the pair of you had even a bit of common sense, maybe she wouldn't ha—" Annie brought her hand up to her mouth with an expression of pure horror. "I'm so sorry. Rebekah was a good and Godly woman. I would never speak ill of her."
    Abram was too shocked at this revelation of how his wife had been perceived to do anything but stare. Rigid about the Ordnung? Of course he was rigid about the Ordnung. He'd taken a vow to live his life by those tenants, in order to be closer to God. There was no greater thing to strive for, in that, as much as their love for each other, him and Rebekah had been as one. He wondered what Rebekah thought, looking down on him from the next life, at his duplicity now. He hadn't lied. God had at least worked through him well enough to avoid the letter of deceit, if not the practice of it. Or was it pride to assume that God was the one guiding him? The road to sin was bricked with the justifications a man made to uphold his own image of righteousness.
    Still, God had given Sofia to Abram's care, and he would not let her down.
    They walked into the living room. The other members of the singing group were seated on the stools and sofas. They looked up at the Englischer police officer as he entered.
    "He's here about the Englischer woman," Abram said. "The one who left with Samuel."
    "Did she tell any of you where she was going?" Officer Maglione asked.
    There was a round of head shaking. One of the girls said, "Samuel was flirting with her." She was tall with very sharp features and dark brown hair that made her seem more severe than her nineteen years of age. There was a hint of resentment to her tone, and her lip curled on the word "flirting" as though she wished Samuel had saved his flirting for her instead.
    "I'm so sorry, Officer Maglione," Annie said. Her round cheeks were red. "I'll certainly have her call you again should she come back. Maybe she has just decided to return to her family. If any of us could get her in one of your English cars tonight, it would be Samuel. I fear he's more out of the Community than in, though as his Mamm's only son, he's reluctant to leave her all-together. Whenever you make a choice, there's always a sacrifice."
    "Do you know what sort of vehicle this Samuel might be driving?"
Annie shrugged. "He's not yet been baptized, so he has no prohibition against using any vehicle he likes. He would have parked it some distance from here though, in order not to be rude. But Abram here heard that she might be going home. Poor thing had lost her memory, though maybe she's gained something back. If she finds her own way home, her family will be just as pleased as if she came in your capable hands. That would be for the best."
    "Right," Officer Maglione said, but his expression was fixed, and when he spoke, there was a stress to his tone, as though his jaw was tight with some form of stress. He studied each of the remaining youths at the singing circle with